January 27, 2016

Expansion and excitement: A hypothetical look at a way MLB might grow

A map showing the locations of the 32 teams in this model, with teams in the same division in the same color.

I want to preface this article by saying: this is not happening.

The changes proposed here are in no way representative of any plans toward expansion and realignment that Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball may be scheming up. They are hypothetical, a way to rethink the current league makeup and shift it around to incorporate two new teams and the renaissance of an old friend. Besides the two completely new clubs and the sole relocated one, these changes include a shift in the number of divisions, a change in playoff format, and a change in scheduling.

Without further ado...two critical introductions, one re-introduction, and a sorrowful subtraction.

Condolences to the Tampa Bay Rays. Their ownership, having driven the team into a shoddy stadium with even spottier attendance, eventually couldn't pass up the opportunity to relocate. Thus, Montreal, Quebec welcomes back a new team--the Montreal Expos (new and improved!). After having lost its franchise to Washington, D.C. following the 2004 season, Montreal gets a chance for a new club. Since the city of 1.7 million has shown that it can support a team for over three decades, there should be no reason it can't relive its former glory (maybe with a new, non-taxpayer-supported stadium).

The largest metropolis in North America, lacking any Big Four professional team, earns a new MLB club--the Mexico City Magic. With a metropolitan population of over 20 million, Mexico City would bode well for attendance, as Latin America (particularly Central America, though) plays a large part in baseball's development. Though many would advise against adding a team outside of the U.S., there has been no inherent travel problem with the Blue Jays or the former Expos. Mexico City would be far outside U.S. borders but by no means a longer flight than that from the West Coast to East Coast or vice versa.

The 32nd and final team in the new-look MLB would be the Charlotte Chargers, a completely hypothetical expansion team. Charlotte has supported one Big Four franchise, the NFL's Carolina Panthers, admirably and would be able to support an MLB team in a region that's fairly devoid of major league clubs. Its urban population of 1.3 million outnumbers that of other cities currently with Big Four teams (Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Nashville, and others), clearly showing its potential for adequate if not excellent attendance.

With 32 teams, the MLB would be primed to transition into an exciting new format very reminiscent of that of the current NFL. The American League (AL) and National League (NL) will remain, but the six divisions of five currently in use will become eight divisions of four: the North, East, South, and West.

With these four divisions in each league, each boasting four teams, the NFL division model would be incorporated into MLB. Few drastic changes are made to existing teams, with the following exceptions:

The Colorado Rockies move to the American League to join the AL West with three current clubs (the Angels, Mariners and A's). They say goodbye to their current division rivals as the Dodgers, Giants, Padres and D-backs remain in the NL West.

The Baltimore Orioles move to the National League to join the newly-formed NL South with current NL East foes Atlanta and Miami as well as the expansion franchise in Charlotte.

The Pirates are spliced out of the NL Central to join the East with the Phillies, their intrastate rivals; the Mets, Phils and Nats remain in the NL East.

The Royals are not treated well by division realignment, having to travel to Texas and Mexico to face division foes in the new AL South.

The new playoff format

Wild Card game, we hardly knew ye. After just four (albeit exciting) years of existence, the NL and AL Wild Card games will be reduced into baseball rubble as the league shifts to a four-round tournament reminiscent of the NFL playoffs. In each league, the four division winners are seeded by record while the two best teams not to win their division (the wild cards) must be 5th and 6th. The first and second seeds (i.e., the two division winners with the best records) would receive byes in the first round: the American League and National League Wild Card Series (ALWCS and NLWCS for each league respectively) while the 3rd seed faced the 6th and the 4th squared off against the 5th. This series would be a new addition to the annual MLB schedule. It would be best of 5, a 2-2-1 format.

This is an example of the American League playoff bracket.

The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would receive first-round byes for the ALWCS. In the ALDS, the No. 1 seed would play the lowest remaining seed (No. 6 is the lowest possible one, in this case, but they could play the No. 4 seed if the No. 3 seed were to win its series and move on to face the No. 2 seed). Complicated, right? It may take a little getting used to, but baseball fans are already acclimated to the Wild Card game after just four years so certainly such a system would gradually gain acceptance.

Scheduling:

The final major area of change in MLB would come in the form of scheduling. Under the current system, teams play their division opponents each 19 times a year, resulting in 76 divisional games out of the total 162. With this model, every team will play each other team in MLB at least 3 times (one full series).

(Note: It would seem that teams could play their division rivals 14 times a year to create an even 162-game schedule, but there must be an odd number of games in case of tiebreaking within a division. Thus, the 159-game schedule.)

The slightly shorter schedule would be beneficial for the extra games (up to five) created by the best-of-five WCS. Without the Wild Card game, the schedule would really be only one game longer.

All in all

There's no doubt that these changes would considerably change the landscape of Major League Baseball. But there's been no imminent talk of expansion in recent times, and anything like this would take years of deliberation and argument to ingrain in the nature of baseball. This proposed realignment, as cannot be emphasized enough, is purely fictional. It's just a good model to think about when, inevitably, MLB talks about major changes.